Raiders 30 Wests Tigers 24

LIKE everyone else, Todd Carney has been paying attention to the in-form Queensland halfbacks. But unlike the many other observers, he's been watching to learn and develop his own game. Yesterday, it paid off.

If Carney builds on the form he produced against the Tigers, he may just be a bolter for the Blues side in State of Origin I.

Carney is among the contenders for the Blues job, but there is no standout. NSW coach Craig Bellamy last week challenged the potential Blues halfbacks to produce a run of form that demanded selection for the game against Queensland at ANZ Stadium, Homebush Bay, on May 21.

Next Monday, Carney will play at home against Bellamy's Melbourne Storm. He couldn't ask for a better opportunity to impress the coach.

"You try not to think about it," he said when asked if NSW selection was a priority. "But when your name is in the mix, you can't help it being in the back of your mind.

"I've just got to play well for the Raiders and, hopefully, my name will get tossed around when they pick the Country side. If you get picked for that game [against City on May 2] and you play well, you give yourself a chance for Origin.

"But I'm not thinking of playing well for the Raiders to make the reps. I'm just trying to do my job."

To do that better, Carney studied the highlights footage of Gold Coast halfback Scott Prince in the first four rounds of the premiership in the lead-up to yesterday's game. This came to light after he was asked whether he was keeping an eye on the form of his rivals for the NSW halfback spot.

"I think I'm like everybody else in that I find myself watching the Queensland halfbacks - [Cooper] Cronk, Prince and [Johnathan] Thurston," Carney said. "I try to copy bits from their games that I think will fit into mine.

"I think it was pretty well known after our game against the Titans last week that my kicking game was off, so I went to the Scott Prince season footage and picked up a few things from that."

Carney's kicking game - and his running game - improved yesterday. Canberra coach Neil Henry instructed Carney to give up some of the responsibility of directing the team around the park to concentrate on his support play and running. As a result, Carney not only set up tries through his hands and off his foot yesterday, but also scored a runaway try.

That solo effort, in which he dashed 75 metres down the middle of the field and fended off Tigers centre Chris Lawrence before getting to the line just as Lawrence came again, put the Raiders in front with seven minutes to go, 26-24.

Winger Adrian Purtell's third try - a 99m sprint after collecting a grubber kick from Tigers halfback Mathew Head - all but knocked the visiting team out of the match with two minutes to go. Once the Tigers took a desperate short kick-off with 30 seconds to go, and it was safely fielded by Canberra centre Joel Monaghan, the game was over.

"He took the line on and proved he can be a dominant carrier of the ball," Henry said of Carney.

"Overall, it was a bit of a mixed bag from Todd. At times he was dominant, and at other times we could have finished our sets better, but he did have to do a lot of defensive work because they ran down his side a lot.

"But I think he is an outstanding talent and I believe they [NSW] will look at him. Hopefully, he'll get picked for the Country side first and we'll see how he goes."

Carney said he was looking forward to the challenge of playing against Melbourne, but he had another part of his game to work on first, after failing to convert Purtell's try to give his side an insurmountable lead.

"I'll have to work on my goalkicking," he said. "That last kick I missed would have made us safe, but instead they had the chance to do something if they got the ball back from the short kick-off. Fortunately, they didn't."

CANBERRA 30 (A Purtell 3 T Carney D Tilse A Tongue tries T Carney 3 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 24 (B Harrison 2 D Collis T Tuiaki tries B Hodgson 4 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: S Hampstead. Crowd: 12,240.